After receiving backlash for his own habits, Prince Harry responds with a sustainable initiative to quell travelers’ carbon footprints
Prince Harry’s charitable foundation, Sussex Royal, has set its sights on sustainable tourism. In an effort to neutralise some of the carbon footprint that comes along with travel, the foundation aims to bring international travel brands together to launch a new, sustainable initiative.
Travalyst is targeted towards eco-conscious travellers and will raise awareness of, and promote, sustainable travel, while addressing issues like over-tourism, wildlife protection, climate change, and helping develop the economies of communities in the global tourism industry.
The initiative comes after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received backlash for using four private jets in 11 days; although the initiative is said to have been in the planning for around two years.
During his appearance in Amsterdam, Prince Harry noted that the project was in part inspired by a y-year-old boy he met while on a working trip to the Caribbean who told him, “Because of your country, my country’s coral reef is dying.”
“We can all do better and while no one is perfect, we all have a responsibility for our own individual impact,” Harry said during the conference, “The question is what we do to balance it out.”
It’s well known that sustainability and eco-consciousness are top of mind to both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Markle has been public about her vegan diet and eco-friendly lifestyle choices for years, while Prince Harry recently told Dr. Jane Goodall that he only wanted to have two children at most, to minimise his family’s carbon footprint. The couple has also been known to travel via commercial airlines whenever possible.
“I came here by commercial. I spend 99% of my life traveling the world by commercial. Occasionally there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure my family are safe and it’s genuinely as simple as that.”